New Year's at Miyajima

I've already visited Miyajima (near
Hiroshima), two years ago. I went on a rainy, grey morning, but it
was still good. Miyajima is famous in Japan as a scenic spot because of
the "floating" tori shrine gates, which sit off-shore, and, as you
would expect, "float" in the water at high tide. (It's weighted with
rocks to keep it down and stable, rather than being fixed to the shore
bed.)

I came on New Year's Eve because I
wanted to see the "Chinkasai" fire festival. It was great fun to
watch. It finished fairly early in the evening, though, so I went for
dinner and returned to wait for midnight. Miyajima is actually a complex of
several shrines and temples. I went to one of the temples first for the
ringing of the temple bell at midnight, then walked
around the various buildings, and of course got some of the the food from
the stalls. Oysters are one of Miyajima and Hiroshima's speciality
foods, so there were a lot of different oyster concoctions
available. I tried oysters grilled BBQ-style. Simple, plain,
delicious.